the next half hour giada de laurentiis will show us how to make meals ahead. >> your perfect friday night, a night on the town, hanging out with friends or family. >> this will get you out. now you want to think about this, right? >> tweet the hashtag. >> keep it clean. >> your ideal friday night. >> take a break, take a beat, now say natalie is not here today, tamron hall with the news today. tamron. >> good morning, everyone. we begin with the unemployment rate released by labor day, stands at 8.1% for the month of august down .2% from july but only because more people gave up looking for work. the economy added 96,000 jobs last month. those job numbers coming out as president obama heads into the final two-month sprint of the election fresh off accepting the democratic nomination for a second term, the president campaigns today in new hampshire and iowa. so continue the argument he made last night that he knows there's a long road ahead but he needs more time to fix such a weak economy. the final night of the convention was a star-studded one with hollywood beauties lending their suppo

giada de laurentiis is here with simple dinners you can make now and toss in the oven tonight. >> didd. >> great buildup. >> so exciting. >> amazing. with the conventions behind us, much more on where the presidential race goes from here. then with "america's got talent" finale days away, i sit down with howie mandel and howard stern. howard made a pretty big announcement about his future on the show. we'll tell you what that's about. >> recently lester and i took a very special trip to the island of jamaica. not so much a chance to blow off steam on nbc's dime, although we did some of that but we both have very deep roots there, one has deeper roots than the other one of us. for example, one of us was born there and the other knows someone that lives in jamaica. that was me down there. all that and more coming up this weekend on "today." it's going to be fun. >> good. chemistry. >> such deep chemistry. >> and our deep jamaica roots. >> stop saying that. >> looking forward to that. >> guys, thank you. al, how about a check of the weather. >> my mom is from jamaica. >> i know someone f